Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

It took ten minutes for Calvin, who was fully equipped with the help of machinery, to hurry towards the bridge.

Doubtful thoughts have been accompanying his thoughts from the first moment he heard the notice:

What accidents can happen during this ultra-long-distance subspace travel with a single jump distance of more than 5,000 light-years?

In theory, there shouldn't be any accidents in this kind of deep voyage before returning to reality. If there are, there can only be one kind - a subspace storm, the kind that destroys the ship and kills people.

Calvin finally arrived at the bridge, but before others reached the command area, they could already hear the sound of Third Company Commander Stern arguing with Mechanical Bishop Katin on the stage.

The third company commander asked loudly:

"Since we received a signal from the Astropath for help, why don't we go!"

The bishop answered in a very calm voice:

"We received a wide-area signal. We have a mission and we don't have time to waste."

"But isn't this trip originally an expedition cruise? Isn't it supposed to be to respond to the call for help as soon as possible after receiving the call?"

"It must be us? It's true that this is a signal from the Tribunal, but after such a long period of signal transmission distortion, what else do we know besides knowing that it's the Tribunal? What if it's a signal from the Foreign Religious Order?"

"Whoever it is, we should go and take a look. It's our duty."

"What about our own mission? Once we leave the subspace submersible state here, it will take at least another month for the choir to prepare for entering the subspace deep voyage state again. Are you sure that we can arrive at the scheduled location on time?"

………………

Calvin entered the podium, and the "communication" between the two parties continued.

He used his eyes to ask questions to the current three-time company champion and Paladin Crawford, who also had the rank of arbitrator. The latter also received his look and shook his head very slowly to signal Calvin to stay calm. .

Later, a psychic message appeared in Calvin's ears. He was stunned for a moment and then let go of his consciousness protection to receive the message.

Not surprisingly, Crawford's voice sounded in Calvin's mind:

"We received a broken help signal in the turbulence of the subspace. We don't know the specific time it was sent, nor the specific location for help. Apart from knowing that this signal came from the opposite side of the subspace we are currently in, there is only one judgment. The encrypted identification of the court.”

"Ah, that's it. It's really difficult to handle."

Calvin thought about the meaning of this information. He would be equally entangled in this kind of thing.

It is indeed unacceptable to give up an ongoing task for information that does not even have a time dimension or specific coordinates, but from a duty perspective, one cannot give up directly.

Calvin subconsciously squinted his eyes and looked towards the center seat of the podium.

This is not an easy decision to make. No matter which option he chooses, he must be responsible for the problems that may arise on the other side.

Calvin chewed on the toothbrush and rolled his eyes to look back. At the same time, he felt sorry for the dying brain cells of this great mentor who was working with him for the first time.

But just at this moment, the Grand Master, who had been closing his eyes to meditate, opened his own eyes, and his inquiring gaze happened to catch Calvin's gaze.

"It's broken, it's broken..." Calvin immediately felt that something was wrong, and he subconsciously wanted to run away.

But it was too late. The cold voice of the Grand Master, who noticed his little move, could be heard clearly on the entire podium.

"Your concerns have been expressed clearly enough. Now, please remain quiet. Who else in the command sequence has not spoken? Well, Arbiter Calvin. Tell us what you think."

For a moment, following the guidance of the voice in the center of the high platform, the entire bridge's eyes seemed to be focused on Calvin.

Calvin, who had no time to complain about himself, turned his attention to the matter itself, and the "thread ripper" in his brain began to work after receiving sufficient energy supply.

His brain quickly ran through the data of the entire fleet and the current situation. Within a few breaths, all the known information about the matter was gathered in his mind, and he disassembled several feasibility studies. A different approach than completeness.

Within a second when the surrounding pressure shifted to Calvin, he faced these eyes of expectation and scrutiny and gave the following answer:

"In our sailing route, we are scheduled to leave the subspace in the Baka sector. We plan to resupply there and then head to Orps via Mantola, right?"

Mechanical Bishop Katin Babel looked at the holographic map again.

The machine soul serving in the command platform responded to his consciousness and displayed the route and star sector nodes involved in Calvin's words in real time above everyone's heads.

"Continue your train of thought, young man." The bishop's voice was no longer as fierce as before, and he seemed to have understood Calvin's intention.

After receiving confirmation of the information, Calvin once again looked at the holographic image above his head.

He pointed to the location of the Baka star sector and said to everyone:

"If we break away from the subspace now, then release a small team directly to the nearest Inquisition assembly point, and then continue to sail into the subspace until the next large node. Then make a deep warp with the help of the recovered choir, How much time will we lose?"

The holographic projector calculated the specific numbers and displayed them above everyone's heads, and the calculation in Calvin's mind was no slower than this, or even a little faster.

He did not look at the results above his head, but continued his speech before the numbers calculated by the servo were displayed:

"21 days! We can notify the Tribunal to move the expected supply point from here to Mantola. The time left for them to adjust is absolutely enough. If it is not enough, we can even continue to move to Yuldis. Anyway, we There is actually only one bottom line, which is to ensure that the state is intact before entering Orps, right? In this way, there will be no problem with our time process."

When Calvin finished expressing his opinions completely, the holographic map on the podium had already listed all his plans under the operation of the mechanical bishop, and marked the variables and attention time nodes one by one.

The Grand Master expressed enough interest in this plan. He looked at the variables on each data node and asked Calvin one by one.

After receiving his accurate and reliable reply, the Grand Master turned his attention to the map with satisfaction. Everyone's attention also began to shift from Calvin's body to the holographic image above their heads.

Calvin breathed a sigh of relief. This inexplicable first test since boarding the ship was passed.

However, before he could completely relax, a natural question was raised by the archbishop after confirming the feasibility of this plan - who would be responsible for carrying out this small-scale delivery mission.

Calvin, who had just regained his composure, looked at the attention and hopeful eyes of the Grand Master that had once again gathered around him, and had no choice.

He knew very well that according to the command sequence of the entire spacecraft, he was indeed the best person to carry out this unplanned delivery mission without affecting the established plan.

And it was at this time that he suddenly looked at the third company commander who had unusually never argued with the Archbishop since he arrived at the command podium.

He didn't understand how such a purely computational problem could trouble these veterans before, but the question came so quickly that he had no chance to doubt in this direction.

The figure and smiling face of the other party standing behind the Grand Master at some point proved Calvin's suspicion.

"Damn it, these old birds are just joining forces to set a trap for me..."

Calvin looked at the people on the podium who were solemnly engaged in a heated discussion about "Calvin's own initiative", and he thought quietly in his heart...

The state is slowly recovering. The old rules are: start first and change later.